Turkey factory shutting down at Christmas
UK supermarkets are scrambling for turkey supplies, after the nation’s third-largest poultry producer announced it would close its turkey factory three days before Christmas.
The company says the closure is a result of cheap imports, last year’s bird flu scare and intense price pressure from supermarkets.
Sixty-five jobs will be lost when Cherryridge Poultry, based in Norfolk, closes its farm and processing factory on 22 December. Before that time, the company hopes to sell 250,000 birds during its peak trading season, according to Neil Roper, Cherryridge’s operations director.
“I wouldn’t just blame it on the supermarkets. The UK is a dumping ground for Italian, German and Polish producers. And a lot of the large food manufacturers can source products from Brazil and import them at half the price that we can produce them for,” Roper said.
Cherryridge supplies Britain’s largest supermarkets. Tesco said: “We can’t discuss individual supplier terms but our customers will have their turkeys this Christmas.”
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